


No littering!

by Insecuriosity



Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers Generation One
Genre: Alien Flora & Fauna, Cybertronian wildlife, Egg Laying, Eggs, M/M, Mech Preg, Nature, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-04
Updated: 2014-10-04
Packaged: 2018-02-19 21:40:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,641
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2403851
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Insecuriosity/pseuds/Insecuriosity
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the underwater base of the Decepticons, things happen. One of these things is a seeker finding himself chock-full of eggs and no way to raise them.</p><p>Hound finds a datapad about mechanimals. He'd never heard about shuttle-falcons before, and judging by the clues in the book a nesting pair of shuttle-falcons might just as well be on earth!</p>
            </blockquote>





	No littering!

It had been decavorns since Hound had seen heard or read anything about Cybertron's natural fauna. With the war and the distance from Cybertron, there was simply no information left to study on the subject.

Even before the war, mechanimals had been rare and evasive. There were a few protected spots on Cybertron for the non-sentient bots to live in, but once the war started everything had collapsed. Any energon-source was immediately tapped into, completely disregarding the mechanimals still living in the reserves until it became clear they were dangerous. 

Wild mechanimals tried to steal energon, and the Cybercats started to assault bots for the energon in their veins. A few Autobots had attempted to put a couple of them in stasis to preserve Cybertronian wildlife, but that plan was given a laughably short lifespan. A virus in the stasispods had sent them all into a frenzy, and it was decided that all mechanimals were to be killed or chased off. Their numbers dwindled fast after that, and nobody could afford to care.

Hound still cared, but seeing Earth's beautiful nature soothed the pain. Birds, cats, organics so small he had to use a scope.... He had almost forgotten the beauty of Cybertronian fauna until Jazz handed him an outdated datapad. immediately 

_The complete Mechanimal encyclopedia and extensive information for those who want to know it all –_ The title alone flooded his processor with the magnificent mechanimals he only knew from deteriorated image-files. 

Jazz had shrugged. “Was a Con decoy for some battleplans. It's clean. Thought that you might enjoy it.” Hound hadn't even seen the little blip-wink in Jazz's visor, already completely engrossed in the detailed descriptions of the Turbofox. He knew most of it by heart, but seeing all that information again was like meeting an old friend. 

“Oh- Thanks Jazz! Thanks!” He beamed at the mech and tried to pull his gaze from the datapad.

The saboteur grinned. “Try not to annoy Mirage with one of yer documentaries on the turbofox alright? I still need to work with him.” 

There were no pictures on the datapad, but Hound didn't need them. The barest descriptions of the mechanimal systems gave him the perfect image of their appearance. Small engines, the claws with titanium tips, their 265-CU little processors, their small fuel lines visible in the seams of their low-grade plating.

Cybercats, turbofoxes, glitchmice, scraplets, CE-gulls, Circuithounds- he knew all of them inside out. Hound's datapad collection about mechanimals had never been large- he preferred to experience nature instead of just reading about it. He'd really come to regret his lacking library over the vorns of war. He hadn't considered that one day, the mechanimals would all be gone. 

Hound went outside to read it. The sun would make the datapad a bit harder to read, but simply being surrounded by nature made up for that 100%. He had originally planned to study the organic creature known as a 'caterpillar', but it'd been a very long time since he'd seen or hear anything about Cybertron's original wildlife.

When the night fell, he subspaced his datapad and went inside. At least Mirage wouldn't complain about him dragging dirt into the base. Simply sitting and reading kept him remarkably clean.  
He didn't stop reading the datapad. He missed Cybertron. He missed the mechanimal shelter that had chipped and cared for injured mechanimals, and tried to befriend them with small offerings of energon. He'd intended to try and secure a job there, but then the war had to come and ruined it all. 

He hoped there were still mechanimals roaming on Cybertron. After the war, he could try and set up his own mechanimal shelter! He could ask Perceptor to help with a breeding program, Ratchet could help too, and Mirage would scout the surface while invisible to see if there were any- 

_Module- Mechanimal basics  
Chapter 6 – Shuttlefalcons. _

Hound's drowsy nostalgia was abruptly interrupted. Shuttle falcons? He'd never heard of shuttle falcons! Hound wrecked his processor- he thought he knew all the bigger mechanimals by heart! He'd been out in the wilderness quite a few times before the war, so how had he never even heard of a shuttle falcon?

_A most rare and fascinating subject, the Shuttle-falcon is most commonly known by its ability to leave a planet's atmosphere. Reinforced plating, efficient engines and the ability to turn off lesser systems make these mechanimals one of the most special on Cybertron._

Hound was shocked into silence. Mechanimals that could leave the atmosphere- mechanimals that could fly through space! He quickly flipped to their specs-page, and found it lacking in most information. 

_The shuttle-falcon is very shy and reclusive, and some scientists claim to have found a cloaking mechanism in their bodies. Since most investigated shuttle-falcons were domesticated, there have not been ample autopsies to bring any evidence to this claim._

Domesticated? Hound flipped through the rest of the pages like he would find his deepest desire woven through the data. A particular paragraph had his spark rejoicing. Shuttle-falcons could travel through the vacuum, and used their supreme systems to scout out suitable host-planets that held lots of energon.

Planets such as earth. 

 

The next day, Hound could not be convinced to come inside the base. As soon as his shift was over, he'd be outside, his optics flitting back and forth between his datapad and the sky. 

There was a chance, a slagging big chance, that there were shuttle-falcons hovering around Earth. He'd looked into some earth-history, and their so called 'mystical' dragons could just as well have been Shuttle- falcons that fed on crystalised energon! And those UFO's they were so fond of mentioning? Shuttle falcons!

By the end of the cycle, Hound was 100% sure that there was a group of Shuttle-falcons circling earth. They had thick and insulated plating that could keep their systems from freezing and they could function in extreme temperatures. They also had a real knack for seeking out energon deposits, and they were smart. They had probably learnt to return to the vacuum of space after a curt feeding to stay safe, hiding in between space debris and human sattelites.

Hound couldn't stop wiggling in excitement. There was possible cybertronian wildlife still teeming! Not dead in the war, not deactivated and unrecognisable, but out there in the universe, seeking out energon on other planets and maybe, hopefully, breeding new younglings!

Shuttle-falcons- One of the most rare and least-sighted mechanimals, and they could be here- on Earth! And Hound was going to see one, even if it was only the tip of their tailfin! Hound studied his datapad as if it was the key to reviving Cybertron. 

Shuttle-falcons laid eggs, and the egg-layer never left the nest, depending on their partner to bring them sustenance during the hatch-period. They looked for high places with a highly contrasting temperatures if at all possible, and built a nest with pieces of scrap metal. According to the encyclopedia, they tended to make multiple nests on the ground to throw off possible predators as well.   
As soon as he finished his shift, Hound left the base and drove off into the desert. It was kind of stupid to go out and try to find signs of fake shuttle-falcon nests, but he'd gone out to look for possum-nests just a few weeks earlier and he had enjoyed himself even if he'd only found a possum-shaped rock. It had been relaxing.

Looking for those signs of nature, carefully scouting the terrain and keeping an optic out was a state of pure meditation for Hound. He watched the few bird circling high over the desert- buzzards ?- and slowly rolled through the wild landscape. It wouldn't do to startle an animal or drive over a snake just because he was being careless.

There-! Hound's engines dropped into silence almost immediately as he spotted a heap of scrap metal in the desert. He squinted, keeping an eye out for a non-organic flying animal, and drew closer to the scrap heap. It was kind of rusty- an old nest maybe? Weirdly shaped, with flecks of pain-... Oh. 

Just an abandoned car. 

Hound transformed into root mode and sighed. No shuttle-falcon nest. He patted the top of the car and sat down, pulling out his datapad for some more studying. As the humans said; Rome didn't build a road in one day, or something. He'd just have to keep at it, but in the meantime he could continue his research. He turned on the datapad and read. 

_Shuttle-falcons are exotic and wild mechanimals, but many nobles choose them as their pet simply for how hard it is to obtain one. Egg-hatched shuttle-falcons are most common, as wild shuttle-falcons tend to escape before complete domestication._

Shuttle falcons could be hand-raised?! Hound's engines revved at the very idea. A powerful mechanimal, smart and loving, stretching it's landers to perch on his arm as he held it out. Hand-feeding it a shard of purified energon, knowing that he raised the beautiful animal from its first moments out of the egg....

_One can appeal to a nesting Shuttle-falcon by offering suitable pieces for its nest and it's distraction-nests. Simply leave an assorted and cleaned pile of scrap metal on a location where the shuttle-falcon is suspected to be. You will know the offering is accepted if the scrap metal has either been rearranged into a circular form, or taken away. Try to note for specific shuttle-falcon lander-marks, as they can help determine if it was not a turbofox checking your offering for food._

Hound's lines itched to try it, and he idly started pulling scrap metal from the wrecked car while he read. He'd have to polish it up and remove the rust before it'd make a decent offering, but it was a great start.   
He didn't want to take a shuttle-falcon away from its nest by trying to tame it. No, just knowing that there really was a shuttle-falcon out there would be enough. Maybe he could leave energon crystals out for the siring shuttle-falcon, so that the egg-layer would have a better chance at survival. Maybe he could see one fly over. 

Hound was giddy when he returned to the base, and Mirage quirked an optic ridge at the armful of scrap metal he was dragging into the base. “What is that all about?”  
Hound beamed. “I'm going to see if we have a nesting shuttle-falcon on earth!”   
Mirage frowned. “A shuttle-what?”  
Hound sent him a quick databurst with the encyclopedia entry about the shuttle-falcons, and then quickly continued on his way. “I'll tell you later if you don't feel like reading but I need to get to the washracks with this!” 

A few cycles later, Hound carefully placed a neat pile of gleaming metal in the desert. 

 

_The best place for an offering is near a potential nesting spot. A mountain or a series of high spires. Try to give the shuttle-falcon a decacycle of time to claim your offering before attempting to relocate it. With their speed and endurance they can sometimes spend a long time away from their chosen nest, but their searches for food and potential threats are thorough and your offering will most likely be found within a few cycles._

Hound followed the encyclopedia as much as he could. There weren't much spires going on around their base, nor were there big mountains, but he picked the highest rock protrusion he could find and placed the offering so that the sunlight would catch on the polished plating for any airborne creature to see. 

Hm. Maybe there was a war-tactic hidden somewhere in there. 

Hound's fuel tank was making excited little jumps. It was like that time where he had been on a mission in Earth's jungle, and one of Earth's bigger predator cats had deemed to jump onto his shoulder- that had been amazing! He had been able to see the colour of its optics -eyes- right before it had jumped off and disappeared into the trees. Maybe this time he would see a Cybertronian wonder of nature instead of an Earthly one. 

The first cycle yielded nothing, but a buzzard landed on a rock in the distance, and he found a snake. No Decepticons. A good day overall. 

 

 

Hound came back to the spot of his offering at every free moment he had. It was reprieve. The base was stuffy. Too many bots in a small place, the pressure of war looming in the background... Simply leaving that ship and losing himself in a less stressful pasttime was nothing short of amazing. Hound enjoyed his efforts. If his offer went untouched, it was probably because the shuttle-falcons weren't nesting yet. He'd simply have to leave the offers out for a longer period of time. As the encyclopedia stated- they were bound to find his offering sooner or later.

Hm. Maybe he could lend a few cameras from Red-Alert and coax Skyfire into bringing him to a different place on the globe to place more offerings? First things first. He still had nine cycles before the offering went officially ignored.

 

 

It was about three cycles after placing his offer that Hound returned and found that his offering was gone.   
His spark seemed to stop in its chamber and his fuel tank made a funny little flip. Could it be-?!

He stared at the dusty ground intently, looking for tracks. There were little pawprints of the organic mice species, a few slanted curls where a snake had slithered and- 

There it was. 

Hound almost didn't dare to believe it, but in the ground there was a definite mechanical print. Landing gear. The prints were almost as big as a seeker's footprint, and Hound held back an excited little revv. 

A fully grown shuttle-falcon- and it had a nest! A genuine, smart, alive and majestic mechanimal was alive and nesting on Earth. With a mate! And possible EGGS!

Hound was never one to disturb nature with his presence, but he had to see the nest. Even if it was from an impossible distance, and he could only catch a single slanted wing. This was a piece of home coming to visit Earth, and he'd be slagged if he let it pass! He quickly activated the datapad again.

The nest is usually built in high up places, and then surrounded by fake nests. The closer to the real nest, the more fake nests tend to show up. Caution is advised when trying to find a shuttle-falcon's nest, as they can get fiercely protective. The real nest is always occupied, unless harm has befallen the shuttle-falcons. 

Hound commed the base and requested two full cycles of leave. Usually he liked to claim his leave when he was recovering from a wound so he could heal in his berth instead of doing monitor duty, but in this case he had no time to lose. The shuttle-falcons continued making fake nests during their entire breeding period, so -according to the encyclopedia- the eggs could be anywhere from just laid to almost hatching! He transformed and drove, hoping that he would find the nests close by.

His wishes came true. He found the first nest only half a cycle after he'd started looking. It was shoddy, but it was obviously arranged in a circular pattern. He took a few pictures, and continued. He found another nest- again a fake, lying on the ground. Shuttle-falcons only put their eggs on high ground. Hound had a moment to admire the turbofoxes- they must have been some climbers for the shuttle-falcons to make decoy nests... or maybe their nests had been raided by Cybertronians rather than mechanimals. 

Hound hoped not. It would be a typical thing of the Golden Age to raid nests of nonsentient animals for personal gain. Hound continued his search, and slept in a cave instead of going back to the base. He had no time to lose, and he rather liked watching the stars slowly pass by as the planet rotated.

Cybertron's skies had always seemed far less mysterious. With Earth, the composition of the atmosphere drew a veil before the vacuum of space. On Cybertron, it felt like you were looking into a yawning endless pit. Sometimes it had its appeal, when a comet or asteroid flew by, but Hound preferred the skies of Earth. 

Before he fell into recharge he swore he could have heard the distant roar of an engine. Probably just a human vehicle passing over. It still made his spark flutter with excitement. 

The next day, he found more decoy nests as the ground began to slope upwards. Hound's audials were constantly primed for the sound of mechanimal engines, but the air was silent. Another empty nest passed him and he almost immediately stumbled on another one. He was getting close-

Hound froze. There, just a few long strides away- gleaming, wet shells were exposed to the outer air, sickly looking energon dripping over the edge of the carefully arranged nest. There was no shuttle-falcon anywhere in sight.   
Hound scrambled forward, and hesitated by the edge of the nest. The eggs were still sticky. Just laid that night- when he'd been dropping into recharge, hearing that engine in the distance!

Hound was at a loss of what to do. Every bit of mechanimal knowledge came up in his processor, completely unhelpful. Shuttle-falcons were not turbofoxes, and he really doubted that they functioned in the same way glitchmice did. 

The encyclopedia entry was barely helpful. _When a nest is found, stay away and try not to stress the Shuttle-falcons. Do not, under any circumstance, attempt to steal the eggs- shuttle-falcons have advanced tracking, seeking and scanning systems that help them to find energon deposits and which aid them in finding their hatchlings._

Hound made a stressed little noise and turned to the sky. Why didn't the encyclopedia say anything about an unguarded nest?! He shouldn't worry. The eggs could withstand the cold. Probably. Maybe? The adult shuttle falcons were going to be able to fly through outer space- they wouldn't die from a bit of exposure. Hopefully. Hound stared at the energon staining the nest, wondered what had happened to the carrying shuttle-falcon. According to the encyclopedia it shouldn't have left the nest at all!   
The energon dripping over the edge of the nest had him on edge, but there was no sign of a deactivated mechanimal frame nearby. 

Hound turned away from the nest, and waited. Maybe he should comm Ratchet? That could help- if the medic knew anything about mechanimals. Hound shifted anxiously

The cycle passed, and there was still nothing. Not even a far-away revv of a small shuttle enine. The night came, and the temperature dropped. Hound was still waiting for the carrier shuttle-falcon when a commlink message from Mirage reached him.

::Hound, report and return to base, the humans notified us of an unregistered jet flying in their airspace:: 

::Can't- I found a nest of shuttle-falcon eggs.::

::....Excuse me?::

::Yea, a nest, filled with mechanimal eggs. Six. The creators haven't shown up- but they shouldn't even have left their litter in the first place!::

::Cybertronian mechani-...are you sure?::

::Yes! Shuttle-falcons! They can go off-planet and survive in the vacuum. They have awesome sensors and can sense energon deposits on any planet they scan- Point is. I think the eggs will die if I don't-... if the creators don't return home::

::Hound, return to base. It's dangerous to stay out.... take the eggs with you if you must- I'll notify Prime::

::Yes- Please ask Ratchet if he can make a surrogate nest or a breeding chamber- I'll be bringing them soon::

::....Fine. I'll let Prime know before you get yourself into more trouble than you can handle. Mirage out:: 

Hound took a small moment to snap a picture and then he carefully started to gather the eggs in his arms, trying to stay calm and collected when he could feel their primal little sparks beating inside their thin shells. Mechanimals. On Earth. And now... now there were going to be his. 

The moment a shuttle-falcon's egg is touched by a foreign presence, it will be abandoned. 

He really hoped he wasn't making the wrong call. Hound ran a hand over the drying energon on the side of the nest- presumably from the wounded Shuttle-falcon that had laid the eggs.   
“I... I will take care of your eggs to the best of my ability, and they will never lack a thing as long as I can help it. I promise.”

Of course, a missing mechanimal wouldn't understand him, rendering any promise useless, but it felt good to say it anyway. Hound hugged the eggs closer to his chassis and started on the long way back to the base. The shells warmed up in his grasp and he swore by one point that he could feel them moving on the inside.

When he returned to the base, Prime, Mirage and Ratchet were waiting, looking a lot less excited and happy than Hound had expected them to be. The Decepticon activity had been a scouting party that had not been covering their tracks, and they hadn't done any damage.

Hound brought the eggs into the base. They were carefully put on a medical berth, and Ratchet scanned them with a grave look on his face. He shook his head slightly, and Mirage nodded with a stern expression. “I knew there was no such thing as a Shuttle-falcon.” He said.

Hound frowned. No such thing as a Shuttle-falcon? “What? But- the encyclopedia-..” He sputtered.   
Ratchet cut him off with a sharp glare. “Hound, that enclyclopedia is false. These eggs are not from a shuttle falcon, but from a seeker!” The medbay fell silent, and the encyclopedia datapad suddenly felt heavy in his subspace. 

“...What?...”

**Author's Note:**

> Soooooooo. 
> 
> This is a thing. I wanted to write a seeker trying to save his eggs by coming up with an elaborate plan. This happened. Mweh. Could'a been better.


End file.
